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Vieira Trying to Make World Title Race Closer

By: Justin Felisko
October 30, 2016

Fabiano Vieira gritted through his ride Saturday night. Photo: Andre Silva

Fabiano Vieira gritted through his ride Saturday night. Photo: Andre Silva

LAS VEGAS – Here are three things we learned from Round 1 of the BlueDEF Tour Finals on Saturday night at South Point Arena.

Vieira earns no points; but still can make world title race closer

The ride wasn’t anything special in regards to rider score or flash, but Fabiano Vieira’s 80-point ride aboard Brown Town was exactly what the 34-year-old needed to begin his PBR Finals week.

Vieira is seventh in the world standings and is trying to overcome a deficit 2,430.84 points in the world standings.

“I feel good,” Vieira said. “He put a horn in my shoulder, but I am a cowboy. He bucked pretty good on video, but he didn’t buck good today. This is good for my head. I need two more. This is a big event too. I was a little sore and didn’t come to the BlueDEF Finals last year. This year, I had a chance to come.”

The last thing Vieira needed was another shot into his left shoulder.

Vieira is 6-for-26 at all levels of competition since dislocating his left shoulder at the Calgary Stampede in July.

“After the break, I haven’t rode very good,” Vieira said. “Earlier this year, before I dislocated my shoulder, I rode very, very good. I was strong and I was OK.”

The Perola, Brazil, bull rider said earlier in the day that his left shoulder dislocation has been much worse for him to ride with than his unstable right shoulder (free arm) that has plagued him since 2014.

“This hurts more and causes more problems than my right,” he said.

Vieira said when bulls spin to the left, like Brown Town did on Saturday before turning to the right at the last second, he can get by relatively OK. It is when bulls spin away from his hand that he has had trouble with the injury.

He can still earn 440 points at the BlueDEF Finals and get to within 1990.84 points of Kaique Pacheco.

Any rider within 2,000 points of the world lead has a significantly greater mathematical chance of winning the world title.

“I am going to start riding good here this week and then I will ride all of the good bulls (at Finals),” Vieira said.

Vieira likely needs six more rides at the World Finals if he hopes to come-from-behind to move ahead of the six riders ahead of him in the world standings.

“There are a lot of points for the guys in front,” Vieira said. “If I win here and I win the Finals of the PBR, maybe I still will be 500 points back, but, of course, maybe I can win.”

Sage Kimzey bucks off in PBR debut

Two-time PRCA champion bull rider Sage Kimzey had all of the confidence in the world inside South Point Arena, but what he didn’t have was the comfortability.

Kimzey was bucked off by Switch Hitter in Round 1 in 4.52 seconds, getting swiped off to the side with relative ease in a dismal PBR debut.

The 22-year-old was quick to take responsibility for his buckoff.

“I left all of my talent at home,” Kimzey said. “You have to ride bulls moving with their momentum. Whenever he was rearing, I got caught sitting on my pockets. You can’t ride a bull of that caliber sitting down.”

Kimzey had been pacing back and forth behind the bucking chutes earlier on Saturday night, trying to find some sense of normalcy in an environment that was very much different than the normal rodeo scene he is accustomed to.

Kimzey likes to arrive an hour before an event starts. He will warm up his rope and get changed into his riding gear before hanging out prior to the saddle bronc riding at a rodeo. Once the saddle bronc riding begins, Kimzey then get his boots tied on and prepares to ride.

At the PBR, Kimzey learned he quickly had to figure out the timing between section breaks and the overall production.

“It is no excuse and I would never blame my level of competition and the way I compete on that,” Kimzey said. “It is definitely a little different atmosphere. The timing deal is the main thing. I have a set routine that I do every time before I get on. I was asking all of the questions and trying to figure out how long the perf was going to be.

“Though, like I said, it comes down to riding and I was prepared to ride. I was ready to ride and I just didn’t perform.”

Kimzey expects to bounce back in Round 2 on Saturday night.

“It won’t take too long,” he concluded.

Resende builds on BlueDEF lead; Silva wins Round 1

Emilio Resende capped off the night with an aggressive 85.5 points on The Lunatic to extend his lead atop the BlueDEF Tour standings to 28.33 points on No. 2 Derek Kolbaba.

The ride helped tied Resende with Dener Barbosa for third place in the round for 25 world points.

“I am trying to qualify for the World Finals,” Resende said. “I know I have qualified before. I fixed my head. This is my best deal. I am ready. My heart says I am ready.”

The lead may seem slim, but Resende was one of only two riders inside the Top 10 of the BlueDEF Tour standings to secure a qualified ride in Round 1. He is a full bull ahead on his closest challengers with two days of competition remaining.

The Top-2 riders in the BlueDEF Tour standings earn two of five wild card spots for the World Finals.

Barbosa’s ride has him leading the way to earn the top international wild card for the World Finals. PBR Canada invite Dakota Buttar is fifth in the event with an 84-point ride on El Guerrero.

Juliano da Silva jumped to fourth in the BlueDEF Tour standings with 89.5 points on Cracker Breaker to win Round 1.

The ride is tied for his season-high.

“I am really happy because this is the best I have ever rode in the BlueDEF Tour,” Silva said with the help of Robson Aragao translating. “Thank you H.D. Page for this bull. It was a good opportunity to draw this bull.”

The Top-2 riders in the BlueDEF Tour event standings earn two of the five wild card spots for the World Finals.

“I am real happy and focused to go to the Finals this year,” Silva said. “I am focused and very happy. I have worked the whole year in BlueDEF and Built Ford Tough to try and come to the Finals.”

Resende is trying to qualify for the Finals for the first time since 2014 after undergoing reconstructive right knee surgery following the 2014 Finals.

The 29-year-old has battled confidence issues ever since the surgery, but he finally seemed to have the sense of urgency and mental swagger that he had during three previous trips to the World Finals.

In fact, Resende finished second at the 2012 Built Ford Tough World Finals behind Robson Palermo.

“I was second in 2012 in Las Vegas,” Resende said. “Many, many times I have needed to ride my bulls. Right now, this is the same. God said, ‘Let’s go Emilio. You can fight. Never give up. You can fight.’”

Resende understands he has to finish the job in Las Vegas and ride all of his bulls if he wants to have the opportunity to ride on the PBR’s biggest stage once again.  He doesn’t want to buck off and have to hope for the best, especially seeing as he has lost out on three event victories in his last three events with buckoffs in the championship round.

“Maybe if I rode those bulls over there and I would have stayed (Top 35),” Resende said. “I have won lots of times in my life. I won one truck, two cars, 13 motorcycles in Brazil. I never in my life won one bull ride with a buckoff in the short go. Every time I have won, I rode my bulls.

“I need to ride my bulls. I don’t care if anyone is behind or in front of me. I need to ride my bulls. Let my work bless me.”

Injury Updates

Alexandre Cardozo raised some eyebrows when he turned down a re-ride option following his 36.5-point ride on Gus.

However, Cardozo said he simply didn’t want to risk losing a score on the board while competing with a torn ligament in his riding hand that he sustained at the Allentown, Pennsylvania, BlueDEF Tour event last month.

“I don’t think I was going to come here because my hand hasn’t felt good,” Cardozo said. “I keep the re-ride because I know we have tough bulls. If I ride every bull, I can do good. That is more important. Here are young, rank bulls. That is why I kept the score. Every place is important, but if I ride all of my bulls, that is more important for me.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

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